I forgot what thread this was, looked up, and transposed that as “Richard Garriot.” Totally confused.
…and tonight, the offense has decided they don’t care who pitches the 9th, as the Indians have a 9-run inning followed by a 6-run inning and lead 17-1 after 5.
Everybody look out, Trig is drunk again.
Cubs are gonna do it. Brewers are surprising me, but I think they take second.
Both go to the playoffs.
Woah, let’s not get too crazy. It’s fun to watch a nice run, but MLB small market reality will soon return.
Heh. 19-8 over their last 27 coming into tonight.
Wow, Mike Matheny fired.
Had to happen. THANK THE LAWD.
Can’t believe they were willing to pull the trigger mid-season, but happy they did.
That story in the Athletic last week made it sound like he’d pretty much lost the clubhouse.
Hard to understand how he made it this long. I was kind of hoping he would last forever.
Hearing that Girardi is a strong candidate. Honestly, the guy I hope they hire for the gig is the amazingly named Stubby Clapp, (I want to be able to nickname the Cardinal manager “The Ol’ Venereal Disease”; please let me have that…) who has been doing amazing work managing the AAA team in Memphis, especially with a constant flux of players coming and going.
And to be clear: the Cardinals have had only 4 full-time managers since 1980 (when Kenny Boyer was fired between games of a double header! Really!) It’s a gig with cachet. They can be choosy.
Kinda surprising even so, they’re over .500 ( barely) so a mid season move is highly unusual.
I dunno, I haven’t been following the division that tightly this season due to life stuff, but it doesn’t seem they merit that. Is it an expectations thing?
An ugly week, long in coming.
But yeah, start with the expectations thing. The team brought in a respected pitching coach like Mike Maddux, brought back Jose Oquendo, and basically gave Matheny an all-star group of coaches to help him stop doing stupid things in games. Coming into this season, the team felt that with the talent brought in and the organizational depth, it was a 90-win squad…and the team started off 20-12. Since then: 27-34. Matheny continued to be baffled by how and when to use a double switch, continued to do painfully stupid things as a manager.
Stories this week also highlighted some clubhouse chaos. A lot of it was tempest in a teapot nonsense, the kind of stuff that shows up when a team is playing poorly, not when a team is playing well. But Matheny didn’t sound good in quotes regarding those situations.
But mostly, this is an analytics-driven team. Having your manager nightly after a loss go to the podium and talk about “This team has multiple good runs in it, just you watch” gets old after a while. The bland, untethered optimism absent statistical results stands out.
And fans were also getting restless. The Cardinals may have sold 3 million tickets again in 2018…but the difference between tickets sold and actual attendance was too noticeable not to call out, and ownership clearly noticed. There have been more and more fans disguised as seats as the season’s worn on.
In the end, it comes down to this: when the team hired Matheny, they thought they were hiring a young, dynamic guy who was a leader and great communicator and would grow into the tactical side of things. What they discovered they actually had in Matheny was a non-communicative, old school doofus who’d lost his clubhouse a month ago or more and seemed increasingly divorced from that reality…and still hadn’t learned how to handle a bullpen or manage basics of the MLB game.
Here’s a really good explainer on how the Matheny hire went south and why this was overdue…and hopefully some lessons the Cardinals have learned that they won’t repeat with their next full time hire.
So, the Cards’ media pool pining for The Prince of Darkness? Who woulda thought?
Kansas City Royals First Half Report:
Fewest runs scored in MLB, most runs allowed.
Fewest HRs hit in MLB, second most allowed (1 behind Cincy)
Fewest walks drawn in MLB, eighth most allowed (need to work on that)
.284 winning percentage. On pace for 46-116 record, which would be the 4th most losses in MLB history - 5th, if you count the 1899 Spiders (you shouldn’t count the Spiders).
And the team they played four seasons ago for the AL pennant - Baltimore, is right behind with a .287 winning percentage. Never have there been two teams in MLB to lose over 110 games in the same season. Closest was 1969, when Montreal and San Diego - both playing in their inaugural season, finished with identical 52-110 records.
It’s amazing that this team made it to the World Series two years in a row, just a few seasons ago. Really hoping they turn their fortunes around again, especially if I end up moving there!
My old man, a life long Royals fan and now fully retired, is rather annoyed that he renewed his MLB.tv subscription this year.
I’m hoping the for the “the more intense the dumpster fire, the shorter the burn” scenario.
Great stuff, there.